Environmentalists are turning to the grassroots for ideas.

With the energy debate stalled in the Senate, several groups have decided that they need to change course.

Rather than applying pressure on Capitol Hill, they want to hold actions throughout the country that rally the public and rebuild the political momentum for a strong bill.

"In the end, we can't completely control what the White House, or any other political leader does," Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org, said in an e-mail. "We can use our own efforts to put more political pressure on our leaders."

As part of that effort, 350.org signed a joint letter with Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network asking members to e-mail them ideas for direct action.

Creativity has never been the problem for this band of activists, who in the past have chained themselves outside of government buildings and painted the sides of ships with oil.

But it seems the groups are looking for something different. Some of their criteria, printed on Grist, hint at what that may be:

* We need large actions, with many members of the general public. Think hundreds and thousands. So don't concentrate on the kind of tactics that only a few hardy specialists can carry out; we're not going to have hundreds of people rappelling or scuba diving.

* Our tactics need to engage onlookers, not alienate them. We have to have effective ways of keeping provocateurs and incendiaries at a distance, and attracting the kind of people who actually influence the rest of the public. Discipline will matter.

* We need to be transparent and open in our planning, not reliant on secrecy. We'll need to do our work certain that law enforcement is looking over our shoulders; our method can't be surprise.

The groups plan to look through the ideas this fall and implement some of them next spring.

-- Ambreen Ali, Congress.org